Plot: Agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) has finally found Joey (Kyle Catlett), but is quickly apprehended by Paul (Adan Canto), Jacob (Nico Tortorella), and Emma (Valorie Curry). Now the Trio is against the clock as Emma tries to contact Roderick before the FBI takes action. Meanwhile, Charlie Mead (Tom Lipinski) has Claire (Natalie Zea) in captivity while Carroll’s (James Purefoy) true plan unfolds.
Wow. Just wow. This episode completely blew me away in a manner I could not even imagine. For the first time, I actually have very little negative comments about an episode of The Following. “The Fall” was action-packed, and had the perfect blend of suspense, surprise, and even humor, to create the best episode of the show so far this season.
The majority of the episode’s focus was the events surrounding the farm house. This was expected based on what happened last episode. What I did not expect was how the entire thing unfolded. In regards to what happened indoors, Bacon absolutely killed it. So far, we only saw Ryan completely fail at all of his plans. I started to forget that he was supposed to be a fully-trained FBI agent. This episode however reminded me of that in a huge way. Ryan’s ability to completely toy with Carroll’s trio was amazing. He was unarmed the whole time, and yet almost always maintained control. His reaction to discovering the love triangle was priceless too. It’s almost as if Ryan was part of the audience like we the viewers are, and he reacted to the whole thing in a very similar manner. It was all very well done.
The flashbacks providing more information about FBI Specialist Debra Parker (Annie Parisse) was very welcome as well. For the past several episodes, I couldn’t help but view her character as secondary at best. She didn’t do much and I only saw her as the typical “leader” figure. Now we actually know much more about her, and it makes all of her past actions make sense. I personally didn’t need to know why she was so averse to calling Carroll’s followers a cult, but I’m very glad that I do know now. It provides a ton of depth to her character, and I only hope this same treatment is done for Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore).
Charlie is also a very nice addition to the cast. Last week I was misinformed and thought that Charlie was Roderick, and I’m actually glad that’s not the case. I love the idea of Roderick being some unknown mastermind while Charlie is one of his many special agents. It gives the show that extra bit of mystery and excitement. Charlie playing the role of Claire’s follower was a great touch too. Charlie falling in love with Claire was pretty predictable though.
The addition of Roderick’s army was great too, and lead to one of the biggest shockers so far. It’s almost as if Roderick is more of a militaristic version of Carroll and the two have some deal together. Honestly, it looks like Carroll had all of his bases covered and I’m excited to see more new people pop up from unknown places. I can’t wait to see who this Roderick is and what insanity he can bring against to the FBI.
Lastly, Emma abandoning Paul and Jacob was the perfect twist. After everything those three have been through, you would expect them to be as tight as possible. Emma and Paul even wanted to help Jacob kill his first person. I didn’t expect their division to happen in such a manner, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Jacob and Paul handle themselves when they have lost all direction.
Despite all of the good, there is still one thing I have issue with in this episode. It really boils down to how a whole task force of expertly trained agents can be overtaken by two people. I mean, seriously. Come on. I understand that Roderick, Charlie, and everyone else in that group has tactical experience, but the law enforcement was pretty much armed to the teeth. They had the FBI, SWAT teams, helicopters, and vehicles everywhere. All the roads were blocked off and no one could get in or out. Yet somehow, two guys sneak on and are able to ruin everything. How were they not seen or heard? Are they ninjas? Either the law enforcement is pretty stupid, or Roderick has a bunch of super soldiers under his wing.
Overall, “The Fall” hit all marks and set itself up as the best episode this season. It’ll be tough to top this, especially with so many episodes left to go, and I look forward to seeing if that’s even possible.
Rating: 9.5/10
I must say I did enjoy the breakdown of what I referred to as the Three Stooges with Emma (Moe), Joshua (Larry), and Paul (Curly). I almost have pity for Joshua who definitely seems to be in over his head. I also kinda felt bad for Paul and Joshua at the end.
It was frustrating to see them escape with Joey again. Also I guess I missed the part where Claire escaped from Charlie. I did find it rather stupid that she didn’t grab something from the wall of guns when he was distracted versus just grabbing the keys and running for it.
I really hope we don’t introduce more nameless cannon fodder of followers. I did like how the girl cop came out of nowhere, but I feel like she would have been the next point in the story, to kill off Emma and have the cop continue in her stead with Joey. Give Weston more of a role to play (as she shot him).
Lastly, I wasn’t a fan of the flashback within a flashback.
What I would really like to see is Carroll’s interaction within the prison. Like was he always in Ad-Seg? I doubt it considering he was allowed more than enough visitors. Then does that mean he was in general population? How did the other jail mates interact? I hope we explore this some more.
The character’s name is Jacob, not Joshua…and the whole back story of Parker is designed to explain why she is Roderick and why she would be so close to Carroll….
Folks, it’s pretty obvious to me that Parker is Roderick. Explains why we are now seeing so much of her back story, and the fact that the breakdown with her parents was in 2004…the same time Carroll was beginning his recruiting; also explains the ease of the “insiders” infiltrating the FBI, police, etc. Unfortunately, I have to disagree and say that this episode was quite disappointing to me and has changed my mind to this show….
It’s highly unlikely that Parker is Roderick based on this news: http://tvline.com/2012/10/29/following-season-1-cast-warren-kole-joes-follower/. I don’t doubt the possibility of her being involved though!
Folks, it’s pretty obvious to me that Mike C has this show completely figured out. So, like, let’s stop watching and have Mr. C. just explain how it’s all going to unfold. Sound like an idea? No? I didn’t think so.